


i may have tried to harpoon you

by simplycarryon



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Spoilers, at least through Sécurité anyways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6461890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplycarryon/pseuds/simplycarryon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minkowski goes looking for Specimen 34, because she can. Maybe because she should. It's the Hephaestus's plant monster, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i may have tried to harpoon you

**Author's Note:**

> don't look at me like that _I need to know if Specimen 34 is okay_

Minkowski waits until she knows Kepler and his team are preoccupied.

(There’s an explosion, somewhere in the hangar bay. An incredible coincidence.)

She’s been tracking Specimen 34’s movements through the walls for a few days, now. Turns out that two sleepless weeks of hunting the damn thing gets you pretty in tune with what it sounds like when it moves, even when it’s being sneaky, and she’s willing to bet an entire week’s rations that it’s started to lay down roots in most if not all of engineering’s vent shafts.

When Kepler and Jacobi peel off to investigate the hangar bay, Minkowski grabs a tank of fertilizer and floats her way to engineering.

It’s quiet, here. Ambient noise leaks through her concentration, but there’s no talking, no barking orders or thinly-veiled threats against her or her crew, and she takes a long moment to just—breathe. Decompress. Readjust.

She sets the tank of fertilizer down in front of one of the vent panels, and knocks on the rusty grate.

“I know you’re in there.”

More silence, and then something between a hiss and a low growl rumbles back through the grate at her.

Minkowski allows herself the tiniest of smiles.

“I’m not here to pick up where we left off, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she continues, when the plant monster doesn’t add anything else. “We’ve had our differences, and yes, I may have tried to harpoon you. But—things are different now.”

Silence.

“I know you’ve noticed it. You evaded me for two weeks, you’re not stupid. Things have changed. Someone else is calling the shots. And—you know, normally I’d be okay with that. But this is my station, goddamn it, and these are my people, and—“

She huffs a sigh, pinches the bridge of her nose between her finger and thumb.

“Look, I’m—I’m just here to say, _be careful._ You and I came to an agreement. Kepler and his team? Not so much. They might hurt you. They might even kill you.”

Specimen 34 hisses, a little louder this time.

“That’s not a threat. I mean, it is, but I’m not threatening you. Whatever truce we managed, it’s—I can’t control them. I can’t control anything—“ Her voice cracks. Deep breath. Can’t let the plant monster, of all things, see her like this. “So be careful, and don’t even think about eating them, because as much as I’d love for you to turn those three into fertilizer, trying to do that will only get you hurt.”

A tiny green tendril slides through the grate and wraps around her pinky, almost gently.

“Lines have been drawn, Audrey II,” she says, softer than she means to. This isn’t supposed to be a tender moment, but she has to swallow hard to keep the words from welling up in her throat. “It’s us against them. You were created while I was still in charge, so—as long as you keep up your end of the deal, and you don’t hurt my crew, you’re one of us.”

The tendril squeezes once, then retreats back into the grate. Minkowski pushes the tank of fertilizer a little closer, then unclips her utility flashlight from her belt, adding it to the meager gift.

“Be safe,” she cautions one more time, and heads for the door.

 

 

When she returns to her quarters, there’s a single leaf floating by her bed. 

She presses it between the pages of her well-worn copy of Pryce and Carter, and hopes for the best.


End file.
